Pirates break game into parts during Premier tourney Friday

Pittsburg Pirates coach Gary Grimaldi said that it was all about breaking the game down into simple parts.
First, worry about your individual at-bat then your individual play in the field.
Let the rest go from there.
In a game where it looked as if the Pirates would be run-ruled, they chipped away using that philosophy but fell 12-5 to the Waco Storm Astros in the Friday night session of the Premier Baseball Incoming Freshman tournament at JayCee Ballpark.
Despite the loss, coupled with a 14-0 loss earlier in the day to the Nebraska Sluggers, Grimaldi said that it was keeping things simple that helped the Pirates back into their second game.
“I think we learned from that and we had a little confidence from doing that,” Grimaldi said.
After Waco jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, Pittsburg took over in the top of the third when John Roderique scored on a fielder’s choice and Bryan Wade hit a sharp grounder that scored Blake Barto, putting the Pirates up 2-1.
But, the Storm Astros came back with a trio of runs in the bottom of the inning on RBIs from Tyler Funk, Mason George and Carlos Leal.
Then, Waco came up big with six more runs in the bottom of the fourth.
That put the Pirates in a position to where, if they did not come up with a run in the top of the fifth, they would be run-ruled for the second game ... something that Pittsburg did not want to happen.
“We knew that we needed to score and we wanted to play seven innings,” Grimaldi said.
Not only did the Pirates score a run, but they tacked on three to keep the game interesting.
In the top of the fifth, Christian Cedeno led off with a single and Avery Coronado drew a one-out walk.
Then, Jay Roderique blasted a two-run double down the left-field line that cut the Waco lead to 10-4. Pittsburg picked up another run after Brett Macary hit a ball to third, which led to Nate Grimaldi being thrown out at second but scoring Jay Roderique.
“They really got on us in the middle of the game,” said Waco coach Jake Rippee. “You don’t want it to be that close and it did make me a little tense.”
After the Pirates held the Storm Astros to just a pair of runs in the sixth, they had their shot to continue to chip away at the Waco lead in the top of the seventh.
Pittsburg had the bases loaded but could not come away with a score, ending the game in the top half of the inning.
“They had that six-run inning but the kids really responded,” Gary Grimaldi said. “We put a nice little rally together and we were back in the game.”
In the first game of the day for the Pirates, the Nebraska Sluggers rapped out 14 runs on 17 hits and the pitching duo of Ryan Cate and Mitchell Preister held Pittsburg to just two hits in a 14-0, five-inning game.
“We challenged them between games,” Gary Grimaldi said. “We told them that you cannot give six outs in an inning against good teams.”
Now, the Pirates will play one last pool game at 12 p.m. today against the Fort Worth (Texas) Cats at JayCee Ballpark.

Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140. Follow Morning Sun sports at twitter.com/mssports.

Premier Baseball Incoming Freshman tournament
Friday, July 3, 2009
at JayCee Ballpark
Game one
Nebraska Sluggers 14, Pittsburg Pirates 0
Pittsburg    000 00 — 0 2 2
Nebraska    3(10)0 1X — 14 17 0
Matt Standlee, Nate Grimaldi (2) and Brett Macary. Ryan Cate, Mitchell Preister (4) and Dallas Schramm, Matt Evans (4). WP — Cate. LP — Standlee. LOB — Pittsburg 4, Nebraska 8. E — John Roderique 2. DP — Nebraska 2. 2B — Evans, Adam Wilson.
Game two
Waco Storm Astros 12, Pittsburg Pirates 5
Pittsburg    002 030 0 — 5 7 2
Waco    103 602 X — 12 15 1
Blake Vail, Christian Cedeno (4), VJ Piccini (5) and Cooper Smith. Caleb Davidson, Colton Nixon (6) and Kade Munden. WP — Davidson. LP — Vail. LOB — Pittsburg 9, Waco 7. E — Matt Standlee, Brett Macary; Davidson. DP — none. 2B — Jay Roderique; Tyler Funk, Mason George, Chance Collins.